A conventional toaster has a timer used to set the time for toasting one or more slices of bread. However, the optimal toasting time is dependent on a number of factors. For example, the toasting time for a desired brownness of bread depends on the type of the bread (white bread, rye bread, whole meal bread etc.) and other factors such as sugar content and the state of the bread (frozen, stale, etc.). Thus, it is difficult to select the optimal time for toasting and browning the bread.